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Nationals enter matchup with the Braves on losing streak

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:08:25 GMT

Washington Nationals (25-37, fifth in the NL East) vs. Atlanta Braves (39-24, first in the NL East)Atlanta; Saturday, 4:10 p.m. EDTPITCHING PROBABLES: Nationals: MacKenzie Gore (3-4, 3.66 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, 80 strikeouts); Braves: Jared Shuster (2-2, 4.99 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 21 strikeouts)FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK MLB LINE: Braves -185, Nationals +157; over/under is 10 runsBOTTOM LINE: The Washington Nationals look to stop their five-game losing streak with a win against the Atlanta Braves.Atlanta has a 19-14 record in home games and a 39-24 record overall. Braves pitchers have a collective 3.74 ERA, which ranks sixth in the majors.Washington has a 13-16 record in road games and a 25-37 record overall. The Nationals are 17-7 in games when they scored at least five runs.The teams meet Saturday for the fifth time this season. The Braves are up 3-1 in the season series.TOP PERFORMERS: Ronald Acuna Jr. has 18 doubles, a triple, 12 home runs and 34 RBI for the Braves. Ozzie Albies is 10-for-37 with a ...

Cardinals bring 1-0 series lead over Reds into game 2

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:08:25 GMT

Cincinnati Reds (29-35, third in the NL Central) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (27-37, fifth in the NL Central)St. Louis; Saturday, 2:15 p.m. EDTPITCHING PROBABLES: Reds: Andrew Abbott (1-0, .00 ERA, .83 WHIP, six strikeouts); Cardinals: Miles Mikolas (4-2, 3.74 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 60 strikeouts)FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK MLB LINE: Cardinals -169, Reds +144; over/under is 8 1/2 runsBOTTOM LINE: The St. Louis Cardinals face the Cincinnati Reds with a 1-0 series lead.St. Louis has a 13-16 record at home and a 27-37 record overall. Cardinals pitchers have a collective 4.19 ERA, which ranks seventh in the NL.Cincinnati is 29-35 overall and 12-17 on the road. The Reds have the fifth-best team on-base percentage in the majors at .332.The matchup Saturday is the sixth meeting between these teams this season. The Cardinals hold a 3-2 advantage in the season series.TOP PERFORMERS: Nolan Gorman has 10 doubles and 15 home runs for the Cardinals. Nolan Arenado is 13-for-36 with four doubles and three home runs o...

Fewer Showers and Storms this Weekend

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:08:25 GMT

Following another stormy stretch of weather earlier this week, rain chances will fall slightly this weekend, leading to more dry time and sunshine across South Florida.Expect lots of sunshine this Saturday morning with a developing westerly wind, which will heat up highs into the upper 80s to low 90s by the early afternoon. Then after 2PM, a few showers and storms could develop across western portions of the metro before pushing toward the coast. Given lower moisture levels today, rain chances will peak at a 40% chance during the late-afternoon hours and it will not be a washout today.Sunday will be quite similar with a nice start and lows generally in the mid to upper 70s, then a few showers and storms will be around during parts of the afternoon and evening hours. Many areas will be dry throughout the day, enjoying partly cloudy skies.By Monday, moisture levels will increase from our next disturbance, drawing up that moisture from the Caribbean Sea. This will lead to scattered sho...

Leftist alliance and Podemos set to join forces ahead of Spain’s snap elections

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:08:25 GMT

A last-minute decision by over a dozen leftist parties to run together in Spain’s snap elections in July could improve the likelihood of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez being confirmed at the ballot box. The deal between the leftist alliance Sumar — which is helmed by Labor Minister Yolanda Díaz — and left-wing party Podemos is designed to create a united front against the conservative People’s Party (PP), which polling data indicate is heading for victory, as reflected in POLITICO’s Poll of Polls.That means that Podemos would join 14 other small leftist groups in the Sumar alliance. Sánchez, who leads the Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE), called a general election for July 23 after the Socialist Party and Podemos suffered a major blow in municipal and general elections on May 28 — which many attributed to fragmentation within the left camp in Spain. However, though an agreement between the two political forces was concluded, Sumar and Podemos remain split on several key issu...

Greens want Germany to use heat pumps, but they’ve struggled to install one in party HQ

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:08:25 GMT

BERLIN — The Greens want Germany to ban gas and oil heating and switch to heat pumps — but have been struggling to install such a device in their own party headquarters for years.The Greens wanted to use the renovation of its headquarters in the heart of Berlin to renew its gas heating system, making it climate-neutral and in line with their plans for German society. But according to a report in Der Spiegel, the party has been trying and failing since the end of 2019 to complete construction work and install a heat pump.At the time, Michael Kellner, then general secretary of the party and now state secretary in Robert Habeck’s economy ministry, said during a tour: “We’ll rebuild the house first and then the land.”Things turned out differently, however, as the Green Party’s approval ratings have plummeted to 14 percent from 23 percent last summer — and the heat pump, a blue box with a fan, vegetates in the courtyard of the headquarters. In an ambitiou...

Trump still holds massive lead in polls, some ‘tightening’ seen

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:08:25 GMT

Former President Donald Trump’s poll numbers are unindictable — pre-indictment.FULL TEXT: Trump IndictmentHis 53.2% national average, tallied by Real Clear Politics, is a football field ahead of the 22.4% Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis holds in second place. All others drop so far behind it doesn’t seem like a race, yet.DeSantis was quick to blast the Justice Department for targeting the ex-president in a 37-count indictment.“Why so zealous in pursuing Trump yet so passive about Hillary or Hunter?” tweeted DeSantis, referring to Hillary Clinton and her secret server and presidential trainwreck son Hunter Biden.The real test will come in the weeks ahead as pollsters chart the fallout from the DOJ’s indictment of Trump. Until then, it’s a game of survival and lukewarm support by other GOP presidential rivals.Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley holds an anemic 4.4% national polling average far back in third place. Former VP Mike Pence, also given the job by Trump,...

Boston police received 47 drink spiking reports in first six months of 2023

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:08:25 GMT

Boston police received 47 reports of drink spiking in the city during the first six months of the year, according to data provided to the Herald.That comes as lawmakers on Beacon Hill are sorting through legislative responses to what has been described as an “alarming” situation after 116 reports came into the Boston Police Department last year. And department officials have said they are concerned about a “real threat” to the public.Drinking spiking incidents have permeated the United States “for quite some time now,” said Shannon Hogan, the sexual assault kit initiative site director for the Boston Police Department.Boston police “continue to learn more and take action” as they partner with their licensing unit, work to track incidents, raise public awareness, and offer an option to report drink spiking on police reports,” Hogan said earlier this week at a legislative hearing.“While such documented occurrences of the use of these drugs or ‘roofies’ in the U.S. date back to the ear...

Lucas: FBI must stop being goons

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:08:25 GMT

It was news the embattled FBI did not need to hear — not in the middle of the GOP House effort to hold FBI Director Christopher Ray — currently set aside — in contempt of Congress.But, as the saying goes, when it rains it pours.And it poured all over the FBI when it was announced that former FBI Agent Robert P. Hanssen, 79, “the most damaging spy in (FBI) history,” was found dead in his prison cell at the supermax U.S. Penitentiary in Florence, Colorado Monday.Hassen had been serving life without parole after pleading guilty in 2001 to selling classified information to the Russians for $1.4 million in cash, bank funds and diamonds.Among the information he sold was that the U.S. had dug a Cold War tunnel beneath the Soviet embassy in Washington for eavesdropping purposes. Another was that he provided Moscow with the names of three KGB officers who were spying for the U.S., two of whom were later executed.Paul J. McNulty, the U.S. attorney who prosecuted Hanssen, said Hanssen’s ...

Intense fighting reported in Ukraine as last nuclear reactor is shut down amid flooding

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:08:25 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s military reported intense fighting with Russian forces on Saturday, while the country’s nuclear energy agency said it put the last operating reactor at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant into a “cold shutdown” for safety as Russia’s war on Ukraine drags on through its 16th month. After Russian forces pummeled Ukraine with missiles and drones overnight resulting in deaths and damage to a military airfield, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrived in Kyiv Saturday for an previously unannounced visit, his second trip to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February last year. He was accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.Ukraine’s General Staff said Saturday that “heavy battles” were ongoing, with 34 clashes over the previous day in the country’s industrial east. It gave no details but said Russian forces were “defending themselves” and launching air and artillery strikes in Ukraine’s southern Kherson and Zaporizhzh...

Canada’s PM Trudeau meets Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy on surprise trip to Kyiv

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:08:25 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is meeting with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during an unannounced visit to Kyiv to show Canada’s support for the fight against Russia.Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland is with him on the trip, which began with a wreath-laying at a memorial wall to honour Ukrainians who have died while defending their homeland.This is the second time Trudeau has made an unannounced visit to the embattled country since Russia began its large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.Trudeau last travelled to Ukraine just over a year ago, where he reopened the Canadian Embassy in Kyiv and met Zelenskyy in person for the first time since the war began.Trudeau and Zelenskyy also spent some time together just last month on the margins of the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, where the Ukrainian president continued his campaign to shore up support among western allies for the defence of his country.Some media outlets, including The ...